jay schmidt

Jay Schmidt

Support Engineer, Oxide Computer

Jay Schmidt is a senior technical leader passionate about empowering teams through containerization, observability, and thoughtful infrastructure design.At Oxide Computer Company, Jay focuses on customer enablement, supportability, documentation, and tooling—helping users unlock the full potential of Oxide’s integrated rack-scale systems.

Before joining Oxide, Jay worked at Docker, where he led customer workshops (including with the DoD), created and delivered onboarding programs, and authored a widely-read blog series breaking down the fundamentals of container technology. Prior to that, he was the primary maintainer of the Modern Applications Reference Architecture (MARA) at NGINX, which focused on building an example production-grade Kubernetes stack and writing extensively about NGINX, observability, and open-source best practices.

Jay holds a Master’s in Organizational Leadership and regularly speaks at conferences including NGINX Sprint, OpenTelemetry Day, and Gluecon. He writes at jayschmidt.us about leadership, infrastructure, and the human side of systems engineering.

Website: https://jayschmidt.us

Located in:

Denver, CO, USA

Expertise

  • CI/CD
  • Developer productivity
  • Kubernetes
  • Modern Application Development
  • Observability
  • Software Secure Supply Chain

Language

  • Ansible
  • Bash
  • ESQLC
  • Python
  • SQL
  • Terraform & Python

Availability

  • Blog posts
  • Meetups
  • Product briefings
  • Public speaking
  • Writing tutorials

More by Jay

Enhancing Container Security with Docker Scout and Secure Repositories

Discover how Docker Scout integrates with secure container repositories to ensure vulnerability-free and compliant images in highly secure environments.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Docker Best Practices: Using ARG and ENV in Your Dockerfiles

Learn about the ARG and ENV instructions and explore how to use them in your Dockerfiles to make your images more configurable and easier to maintain.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Docker Best Practices: Using Tags and Labels to Manage Docker Image Sprawl

Learn best practices for using tags and labels to manage image sprawl in Docker container workflows.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

10 Docker Myths Debunked

We debunk common Docker myths and explain the capabilities and benefits of this widely used container technology.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Zero Trust and Docker Desktop: An Introduction

We explore Zero Trust security and walk through several strategies for implementing Zero Trust within a Docker Desktop-based development environment.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Docker Best Practices: Understanding the Differences Between ADD and COPY Instructions in Dockerfiles

What are Docker ADD/COPY instructions and when should you use them? We explain the differences between the ADD and COPY instructions in Dockerfiles, including when to use each based on security, functionality, and build context.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Docker Best Practices: Choosing Between RUN, CMD, and ENTRYPOINT

Learn how to optimize Docker command use with our best practices guide on RUN, CMD, and ENTRYPOINT Dockerfile instructions.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Understanding the Docker USER Instruction

Discover best practices and common pitfalls associated with the Docker USER instruction. Also get a hands-on demo to learn the importance of these practices.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

How to Check Your Docker Installation: Docker Desktop vs. Docker Engine

Learn the difference between Docker Desktop vs. Docker Engine, how to check your Docker version, and more.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Are Containers Only for Microservices? Myth Debunked

Containerization is commonly associated with microservices architecture because of its agility and scalability, but the potential extends far beyond, offering compelling benefits to a variety of architectural styles.

jay schmidt
Zubes
Jay Schmidt
and
Zubair Aslam

Enhancing Container Security with Docker Scout and Secure Repositories

Discover how Docker Scout integrates with secure container repositories to ensure vulnerability-free and compliant images in highly secure environments.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Docker Best Practices: Using ARG and ENV in Your Dockerfiles

Learn about the ARG and ENV instructions and explore how to use them in your Dockerfiles to make your images more configurable and easier to maintain.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Docker Best Practices: Using Tags and Labels to Manage Docker Image Sprawl

Learn best practices for using tags and labels to manage image sprawl in Docker container workflows.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

10 Docker Myths Debunked

We debunk common Docker myths and explain the capabilities and benefits of this widely used container technology.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Zero Trust and Docker Desktop: An Introduction

We explore Zero Trust security and walk through several strategies for implementing Zero Trust within a Docker Desktop-based development environment.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Docker Best Practices: Understanding the Differences Between ADD and COPY Instructions in Dockerfiles

What are Docker ADD/COPY instructions and when should you use them? We explain the differences between the ADD and COPY instructions in Dockerfiles, including when to use each based on security, functionality, and build context.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Docker Best Practices: Choosing Between RUN, CMD, and ENTRYPOINT

Learn how to optimize Docker command use with our best practices guide on RUN, CMD, and ENTRYPOINT Dockerfile instructions.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Understanding the Docker USER Instruction

Discover best practices and common pitfalls associated with the Docker USER instruction. Also get a hands-on demo to learn the importance of these practices.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

How to Check Your Docker Installation: Docker Desktop vs. Docker Engine

Learn the difference between Docker Desktop vs. Docker Engine, how to check your Docker version, and more.

jay schmidt
Jay Schmidt

Are Containers Only for Microservices? Myth Debunked

Containerization is commonly associated with microservices architecture because of its agility and scalability, but the potential extends far beyond, offering compelling benefits to a variety of architectural styles.

jay schmidt
Zubes
Jay Schmidt
and
Zubair Aslam